Melania Trump And Kimberly Guilfoyle Are More Alike Than We Ever Predicted
Former President Donald Trump and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., share more than just a name — they also have a surprisingly similar taste in women. The ex-POTUS' wife, Melania Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who Trump Jr. got engaged to on New Year's Eve 2020, share more than just physical attributes of long, brown hair and high cheekbones. They're also incredibly close in age and come from similar personal and professional backgrounds.
Guilfoyle, born on March 9, 1969, is just under one year older than her fiancé's stepmother, who was born on April 26, 1970. The former Fox News correspondent has been married twice before Trump Jr., which will make him her third husband. Melania is Trump Sr.'s third wife. Both women are mothers to one son. Guilfoyle had her son, Ronan Anthony Villency, with her second husband, Eric Villency. Melania had her only son, Barron Trump, with the former president.
Professionally speaking, both women have donned the title of first lady. Melania was the most recent when she served as the first lady of the United States from 2016 to 2020. Guilfoyle became the first lady of San Francisco 13 years earlier in 2003, when her then-husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, was elected mayor. (Guilfoyle and Newsom, who married in 2001, had divorced by the time he was re-elected for a second term in 2007.) The similarities between Guilfoyle and Melania don't stop there, either.
Both Melania Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle used to be professional models
Before they entered the political realm, Melania Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle were professional models. Slovenian photographer Stane Jerko kickstarted Trump's modeling career in the late 1980s when he invited a then-16-year-old Trump (born Melania Knavs) to model for him. Trump continued to pursue modeling in her early adult years, changed her name to Melania Knauss, and left Slovenia to work in Milan and Paris. Trump moved to New York City in the late 1990s, where she would later meet her future husband, former President Donald Trump.
Guilfoyle also briefly pursued a modeling career in her younger years, although her reason for modeling was less of an impassioned career choice and more of a financial decision. "I knew I wanted to go to law school, and it ended up being a great way to pay for it," the former Fox News correspondent told People in 2014. "I modeled everything from clothes, swimwear, and lingerie, including Victoria's Secret! I met an incredible number of interesting people through modeling and really learned a lot about self-confidence and self-worth."
The attorney told SFGate in 2001 that her decision to model was "a means to an end, period." Indeed, Guilfoyle's modeling career came to an end after she paid her way through law school and began her work as an attorney. Melania's modeling career waned around the same time she married Donald, although she would later pursue jewelry and skincare lines.
Melania and Kimberly come from similar familial backgrounds, too
Although they were raised in different countries, Melania Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle had similar upbringings in terms of both socioeconomic status and their emotional connection to their families. Born into a working-class family with a textile factory worker mother and a traveling car salesman father, Trump's early years were nothing like her life today. Guilfoyle also had a modest childhood, having been raised in San Francisco by an Irish immigrant, construction worker father, and a Puerto Rican special education teacher mother.
Both Trump and Guilfoyle were incredibly close with their parents, although the former San Francisco assistant district attorney tragically lost her mother when she was only 10 years old. "My mother was everything to me," Guilfoyle told Mediaite in 2015. "I loved her so much. I always wanted to be around her. I loved how I saw people react to her. She was a warm woman who worked in education with people with emotional challenges. I got my sense of giving back and how when you have many blessings, pay it forward."
Trump, whose mother, Amalija Knavs, died in early 2024, has had similarly high praises. The former first lady delivered the eulogy at Knavs' January 2024 funeral, calling her "a ray of light in the darkest of days" (via YouTube). Trump praised her mother's poise, grace, and unending compassion. "Our bond was unbreakable," Trump said in her heart-wrenching speech.